Extension ladder



H. E. SKEELS EXTENSION LADDER Filed Nov. 26. 1926 FyJ cable'through which they section is adjustcd, Another ob ect of the invention is to rovide Patented Dec. 6; 1927.

UNITED STAT nanny 'sxnnts, or nociznsrnn lnnw vom j EXTENSION. .L-Animn.

Application m iwove mbe'r 26, 1526. ste l-a1 to. 50,695.

; The. present invention relates to extension an extension ladder having an adjustable section held in its shifted position by a latch which i s controlled in a novel manner by'a an; extension ladder inwhich'an ad ustable section has means adjacent its upper-end for cooperating with the latch which holds the adjustable section in its adjusted position so, that'the latch will not interfere. with the separation of the sections. Still another objectof. the invention is to provide novel 5 means for strengthening the upper end of a latch carrying section of the ladder so that a latch may cooperateflwith the rung of the latch carrying section without any danger of .the rung breakingdue toits being weakened by being mortised in the'uprights of the latch carrying section.

P in the appended claims.

v .To these and other, ends, "invention consists of certain parts and combinatlonsof parts, all of which will be, hereinafter, de'

scribed; the novel features being. pointed out V In thedrawing'sr I c i Fig. 1 is a. plan View of a ladder constructed iniaccordance: with this invention. @Fig. 2 is a fragmentary planfview showi'ng. one section oftheladderlocked in janiad- Y 1 1 j is a fragmentary detail..-view show the same justed position upon another section? ,1F1g. .3 is a similar View showing the latch S ft d to, Perm the rel tiv infst ee bei- .tweenthetwo sections,v I f? i; j} Fig. {tits a section onjthe line. Fig.

- .dis. a vertical;fragmentaryf'section showing the manner. in :which' the latch co- Jopemtes with guide porti'on'of an adjacent I ctionftojperinit theseparation of the see i i 7 'jing'jgtheflmanner in; which the; two sections may be interlocked for the purpose of pro-- ducinga stepladder.

F g. 8 isadeta ili View Iof'the'hook at the f end'of thefiexibleoperating connection; f In the drawings a ladder'cof only 'two' 'sections is illustrated but it is apparent that any. umber ofsections may be assembled in manner. Infact thenpper section "injthe present instance is provided with means which wilhpermit" a third section to be adjustedgthereon. *1

, ,,Th e.'lowe r section in ladders and an object thereof is tov provide,

the next lower section may "the rope or fie'xible connection eXten warclly toward the bottom of the :whereit'fmay be operatedby hand to eifect the elevation 01' the lowerir'rg of the section to be adjusted. LWith"; the' sen d in [shiftable section in" H sitio'ns on the next lower section, a latch 10 Fig. 51s a section on the line 5j'l5,fFi'gl "outer face "of" the caresses 9 bodirnent coinpiises. two uprights 1 connectedbyr'ungs 2. Arranged to operate on IOWQ Q ion is an upper section havingluprights 3' connected by rungsft. The widthof the upper section, is slightly less than the width, i

may between theuprights ofv the lower sect on andfslideon the rungs of such lower sectlon,

ES PATENT OFFICE.

I ofthenarrowest portion of the lower section soflthatthe upper section f To the end sections 'may be held together, each "section is provided at itsupper end with'gu'ide hooks 5 prleferably in pairs secured to the opposite fan adj listing means. is provided between each 7 two sections. v instance comprises afrope'or flexible operat- The adjusting means in this ing connection '6 preferablydetachably secured by a hook 7 to an! eye 8 secured in this instance tpfth'e -section'Tto' .beadjusted. From 'itsisecured point, jj'the flexible connection or rope" is exn e pw r y andip 's e 3 9 wp 'l y est anged "in this, instance; on the uppermost V frungof the section on'which-fthe shiftable lowermost rung of the on the section sectionlis adjustedfand-from the ullcy 9 s downdifferent fadjusted. pois 'providedQin-this v instance formed from jection s 11 serving as pintles and our'nale'd on thels'e'ction which remains stationary during the. adjustment I ire" section thereon. This latch is a substantially V shaped mem- :yiew of sustaining a V "afnietal nstanttojprovide two end pro-' ber and the pintles 11 are disposed near the" section slightly above the *plane of th'efupper surface of one of the upper rungs of"th'e section preferably'the rungn'eitt' to the .highest'rung on the section, v

the" latch may cooperate until the two sections are completely 't-ised to receive such rungs with the upper surface of such rung and in this way add strength to the latch while the rung acts as an abutment. The latch projects beyond the rear face of such rung and into the path of the rung of the section adjustable on the section carrying the latch. In this way when the adjustable section moves upwardly, the rungs of such adjusta' blc section cooperate with the under side of the latch and shifts such latch out of the part of the rungs, the latch returning to atching position by gravity so as to sustain the adjustable section in its adjusted position by engaging beneath the latch rung that shifts said latch during such elevation.

\Vith the end in view of controlling the latch so as to elfect the lowering of ad ustable section, the latch has a recess or notch 12 bent or formed in the outer edge thereof, and during the shifting of the adjustable section both strands of the flexible connection 6 operate in this notch. The lowering of the upper section is effected by shifting the downwardly extending strand of the flexible connection laterally while holding the flexible connectionundertension aswil be seen by referring to Figs. 3 and The flexible connection rides on an inclined wall of the recess 12 and engages the free edge of the latch 10 holdin the latter elevated against the stop 13 an out of the path of the rungs on the adjustable section, permitting the adjustable section to be lowered gradually through the flexible connection 6 lowered to the position illustrated in Fig. 6.

It will be noted that when the adjustable section is lowered to the position shown in Fig. 6 the latch 10 is held away from latching position. This result is obtained by rovi ing on each section, guide pieces 14, tiese guide ieces being arranged in pairs on the inner ace of the uprights of each section. The ends of the guides are bevelled at 15 to permit the latch to slide freely olf and on the guides. The uides are positioned adjacent the upper en of each section so that as any one section moves to the horizontal plane of another, the guides on such section coopcrate with the sides of the latch 10 and ho d it in unlatching position as shown in Fig. 6. These guide pieces 14 preferably extend between the uppermost rung of a section to a point below the underside of the next highest run In this way they perform the additional function of strcnhenin that run" of the ladder section wit whic the latch 10 cooperates, the guide pieces being morand bein at the same time fastened to the inner aces of the two uprights on both sides of said rungs. Owing to the fact that, when two ladder sections lie in the same plane, the latch on the lower will engage the guide pieces of the i i la l'n rliunnnnect the sections without interference by the latch. All that is necessary is that the lower of two sections be elevated on. the other section and the latch on the lower section will. travel up the guide pieces 14 and oil the end of the next higher section. The lower pair of guide a short distance beneath the latch of a section so that shortly after the latch of a lower section passes off the end of the next higher section, the lowermost guide pieces 5 hooks 5 are situated only of the lower sect on will be disengaged from theuprights of the upper section and the two sections will be separated. The rope or flexible connection (5 may through the detachable hook 7 be disconnected with the next higher section before or after the separation.

The uppermost tions lend themselvesto the making of a stepladder from the two sections. This result is secured as shown in Figure 7 by passing the upper end of the uprights 3 between:the inturned ends of the guide hooks 5 and the upper rung 2 of the lower section as in Fig. 7, the upper end of the upper sections being notched at 16 so that they may guidebooks 5 on two secrest upon the rung 2 and interlock therewith.

When in this position the lower edge of the upper rung rests upon the upper edges of the hooks 5 projecting from the u rights 3 so that an effective interlocking of the upper ends of the twoladder sections is obtained.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided an extension ladder in which the latch which sustains an ad justable section is so constructed that it may be readily controlled by the operating rope or flexible connection through which the extension of the ladder is obtained. A novel means is provided for strengthening the upper end of each section so that a rung may be employed as a stop or abutment fora latch while such latch is supporting an adjustable section. Means is also employed at the upper end of an adjustable section for cooperating withthe latch on the adjacent lower section in order to maintain the latch L out of latching position when two sections are moved to the same planeso that the lower section may be lifted fromthe upper section without any interference by the latch.

W'hatI claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An extension ladder comprising two sections, one of which is adjustable on the other. a latch carried by the lower section near the upper end of the latter to cooperate disconnected from upper section, and means carried by the upper end of the upper section for cooperating with said latch as the upper section moves to lowered position on the lower section in order to hold said latch out of latching position with the uppermost rung of the upper section when released by the flexible connection so that the lower section may be the upper section by lifting the lower section upwardly on the upper section.

2. An extension ladder comprisinga sec tion having guide pieces extending downwardly from its upper rung to points below the next lower mortised to receive said next lower rung and being secured to the inner faces ,of the uprights of such section on opposite sides of the mortises, a latch pivoted-to said section above the rung next below the highest and adapted to cooperate withthe upper face of said mug in order to engage beneath the rungs of another section.

3. An extension ladder comprising two ladder sections, each having rungs, a latch pivoted to the lower one of said sections to angle with rung, saidv guide pieces being,

engage beneath the rungs of the other and formed with a recessed portion between the pivotal axis and the free or swinging edge of the latch, said recessed portion having one wall thereof forming a surface at an oblique reference to the pivotal axis of the latch and extending to the swinging edge of the latch, a guide pulley mounted at the upper part of the lower section to turn about an axis extending transversely of the plane of the ladder section, and a 'fiexible controlling member secured to the lower portion of the adjustable section, extending upwardly from said secured portion through the recess in the latch to and about the uide pulley and having a portion extending ownwardly to lie in the recess of the latch and to move laterally in the direction of the pivotal axis of the latch in order to cooperate with the inclinedv wall of the recess to move said latch on its pivot and then shift into engagement with the swinging edge of the latch in order tohold said lat-ch out of latching position.

HENRY E. SKEELS. 

